Alstom will supply equipment to the biggest hydro plant in Colombia

08/11/2012

Alstom has been awarded a contract worth around €170 million, by Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM) to supply eight turbines and generators units for the Ituango hydro power plant.

This power plant will be installed on the river Cauca in the Antioquia department, 170 km from Medellín (second city of Colombia and the capital of the Antioquia department). It will be the biggest hydro plant in Colombia, generating 2,400 MW.

EPM is the leading power generation utility in Colombia with more than 3,200 MW of installed capacity.

The contract involves the supply of eight 300 MW Francis turbines, with their respective speed regulators and cylindrical gates, and eight generators with their respective excitation systems and bus bar.

Alstom will be the sole turbines and generators supplier for the project. The first four generating units will be ready by 2018 and the other four will be ready by 2021.

All the equipment will be produced by Alstom Taubaté unit in São Paulo state, Brazil, one of the largest hydro power generation equipment factories in the world, dedicated to the Brazilian and South American markets, as well as exports worldwide.

“Thanks to this new project, Alstom will consolidate its leadership in Latin America and worldwide for large hydropower plants. In Colombia, the Ituango project represents the second success in a row after the manufacturing of the equipment for El Quimbo hydro plant. Ituango power plant comes to confirm our commitment to improve the national infrastructures and develop the power generation capacity in the region”, states Marcos Costa, Alstom’s VP Global Power Sales in Latin America.

Present in Latin America for over 50 years, Alstom has supplied 30% of the hydro power generation infrastructure in Latin America.